Faculty, staff urged to mark books

University faculty, staff and students are reminded to mark textbooks and personal property in efforts to thwart the theft and resale of those items.

SIUC Public Safety Director Todd D. Sigler said there appears to be a growing trend on college campuses of stolen textbooks being resold to book publishers via the internet. Sigler suggests faculty and staff mark books for ownership using "property of" either SIUC or the department, or their own names, in different places in a book, such as every 100 pages.

In some instances, suspects may bypass trying to sell books to local bookstores. Companies that deal with buying books through the Internet many times are out-of-state firms, and are not aware the book is stolen, Sigler said.

When book thefts do occur on campus SIUC police notify local book stores "right away, and we have been able to recover some books that way," Sigler said.

There have been two cases at SIUC where suspects attempted to sell books to out-of-state firms that then arranged to resell the books as a part of that company’s legal business, Sigler said. Books were recovered in both instances, including one where the company contacted police after concerns over the book’s markings, Sigler said.

- Pete Rosenbery